Why ABC Family is Going to Ruin Shadowhunters
Megan Raible // Blog Writer
In 2013, I eagerly anticipated The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones along with millions of other fans around the world. An adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s first novel of the same title, the movie seemed destined to launch the next Young Adult movie franchise. The books series has six books in total, is constantly on a best seller’s list somewhere, and has been a fan favorite since 2007 when the first book was released. With such a massive following, why did the movie completely flop?
The answer is quite simple. The movie was terrible. Despite a promising looking cast and teaser trailer, the film was nothing like the books whatsoever. Sitting in a theater watching the movie in full cosplay with some of my closest friends, I was heartbroken at what I was seeing. The movie lacked all of the character development that Cassandra Clare is so famous for in her novels. Some elements of the mythology were changed for no reason and other changes, like the location of the final battle in the book, served no purpose.
I understand that when making an adaptation of a book, some things have to change. While it might be interesting to read an entire novel where the narrator speculates and monologues in their own head, it can be difficult to translate that to the big screen. My problem with the film was not that they chose to add in more action sequences to make it more interesting, it was how they chose to make these changes. The directors, producers, and other decision-makers made changes that would affect not only the way the mythology of Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters functioned, but also contradicted events that occurred in later books.
For example, Clary, the main character, is supposed to be a girl who learns that her mother was a Shadowhunter. They are demon hunters who are half angel and half human. They keep the peace in Downworld, which is the side of New York City ordinary people never see, where faeries, werewolves, vampires, warlocks, and demons all roam free. In the first book, Clary has to come to terms not only with the fact that she is a part of this ancient race, but also that her mom hid it from her for her entire life. She’s understandably confused and scared, but none of this was effectively portrayed. Lily Collins played Clary as if she were confident, self-assured, and already aware of powers that she did not discover until the second book of the series.
After the cheesy, cheap disaster that was The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, I was horribly upset and praying that the studio wouldn’t pull a Percy Jackson and try to keep making the movies despite fans hating them. So when it was announced that the rights had been sold to make a TV series, I was worried. The books could benefit from being transformed into a TV series instead of a movie. They’re long, all around 400 pages, so if each season could be the equivalent of one book, then more of the original content could be translated to screen. Unfortunately, all of my hopes for a good adaptation of one of my favorite childhood book series were dashed when I read that the rights had been picked up by ABC Family.
ABC Family has a reputation for having overdramatic TV Shows with poor acting and writing that barely makes sense. Think The Secret Life of an American Teenager or Pretty Little Liars (another series which has completely deviated from the books). City of Bones deserves much better than this kind of treatment. The show is set to air in January and several different clips and trailers have been released so far. If it wasn’t irritating enough that the show has been named Shadowhunters, the trailers are completely cringe-worthy.
Any fan of the books will say that the beauty of what Cassandra Clare has done with the world in her books is make it relatable. While the teenage main characters may be demon hunters with some angel blood mixed into their genetics, they are not superheroes by any means. They train hard to have the combat skills that they possess, to learn to use the different weapons like seraph blades, and to learn to draw the magical runes which they draw power from. Essentially, they are humans who are made stronger by their angel blood, but they are still human. In the trailer for the show, characters like Alec and Jace are seen jumping to ridiculous heights and seemingly flying into the air. This simple change may seem insignificant, but it demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the values and themes that lie at the core of Cassandra Clare’s book series.
When the show airs in January, I will probably watch one episode to give it a chance, but I am already heavily anticipating my disgust with the series. Small changes are fine, but huge changes to the timeline, the age of the characters, their appearances, personalities, and terrible acting are all things that I cannot tolerate together. ABC Family’s Shadowhunters show may turn out to be successful in its own way, but it will definitely not be successful with fans of the book series. As much as I would love to see my favorite characters on the screen, I want to see their story done authentically, with at least some resemblance to the books that I love so much. Since it seems that is impossible, I say it’s time to let City of Bones stay a brilliant book and not continue to sully it with poorly executed adaptations.
Great article! My 16 year old daughter absolutely agrees with you about this new take on these books. She has been cringing every time a commercial comes on. Nice to find a kindred spirit. 😉
I just watched about 11 mins of the show and I’m in a state of wtf did they do. They totally ruined any chance of making it right. They need to at least come close to the books. I hate when they take books and turn them into movies or tv shows and can’t follow what the author wrote. How hard is it to really sit down and actually read the book and say ok let’s do this right for her fans. Ugh. So annoyed it ain’t funny.
I watched the first episode and swore I will never watch another episode again. Everything was wrong about it. I will just stick to reading the books.
I have read all six books and I’m a big fan of the Shadow Hunter world and how amazing Cassandra Clare is and how she brought the world of Demons and Shadow Hunters alive in more dynamic ways with each book. So when I heard that there was going to be a show made based off of Cassandra Clare’s books I was beyond ecstatic I waited for what seemed like forever for the show to air and when it finally did……ABC family which is now known as Free Form took the beautiful world and amazing characters Cassandra Clare created and Destroyed them utterly and completely. The show does not in any way follow the amazing story Cassandra Clare created. Despite what the actors said before the show aired that the show would be true to the books that was a lie the show is nothing like the books it shouldn’t be called Shadow Hunters it isn’t Shadow Hunters and Cassandra Clare should be ashamed of what Free Form has done to her story and her characters. This show is a disgrace I thought after the first episode I would give it another try maybe it would get better and im sad to say it only got worse. I honestly hope they cancel this show before it ruins the story anymore because it saddens me to see it ruined so badly from the over the top acting to the horrible fight scenes to how goofy the Marks look on the actors. I got to say what I hate the most is the way the Seraph blades look in the show whenever I read the books and the blades are mentioned I cant help but picture an amazing looking blade its the Shadow hunters signature weapon you cant help but picture something amazing when you read the books. So when I see them on the show and see how awful they look it completely ruins the imagery. I understand they have to change some things to adapt the books so the story makes sense on TV but they didn’t make small changes they completely rewrote the story Cassandra Clare created. I Hate the show so much again I truly hope it gets cancelled.
These books are absolutely incredible. I feel the show has done so much to completely ruin them. People say that they are diehard fans of the books but they watch and love this? I watched one episode and couldn’t stand it any longer. I’m disappointed what they’ve done with this amazing series. I actually very much enjoyed the movie. Yeah they changed a couple small and major things from the books. But we had a great cast and plot and execution. I didn’t really like it at first to be honest. But after watching “Shadowhunters”. I realized what a pretty good adaption we had and everyone pitched a fit because they changed things around and everything was not how everyone pictured it happening in the book. I wish they would continue the movies. Because I believe they can get better if they are given the chance. Stick with the same cast. Finish the movie series. Cancel shadowhunters. That has a poor plot,Actors,special effects,relationships and anything else in the show. It’s a very large disgrace to the books that so many people love. So I started a petition for the movies to be finished. Because the show is ridiculous. I don’t know what everyone else is watching. But I don’t see a good adaption. I see cheesy crap.
Everything about this show is wrong. They introduce characters that have no business this early on, they take away characters that are important to the story, and they butcher who each and every character is. I was so excited about this and the fact that they did this to a series so close to my heart is beyond disappointing. The movie wasn’t right either. Clary was someone I related to on so many levels in the book. Movie Clary seemed like a stranger to me. I too hope this show gets canceled. There’s too many mistakes that they can’t fix.
I too hope this show will get canceled before it goes too far. The acting is beyond cringe-worthy, the characters are inaccurate depictions of the book. Some characters in the first episode aren’t even in the series until the THIRD BOOK. The emotion and the feeling to relate with the characters is sucked out of the show and is instead pumped full of sex-appeal and hormones. The beloved characters that I adore in the books are nonexistent in the show, which deeply and truly saddens me for my fellow fandom and for Cassandra Clare. I will never watch another episode again.
If you want to help me stop this show. Sigh my two petitions and share with your friends. I have one to Stop Shadowhunters and I have one to continue the movie series. I think if the larger half of the fandom fights we can win. Stop shadowhunters- https://www.change.org/p/ed-decter-stop-shadowhunters?recruiter=299989797&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink, save the movies- https://www.change.org/p/martin-moscowitz-save-city-of-ashes-movie?recruiter=299989797&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
Well it’s now October 2016 and the Shadowhunters tv series is one of the biggest hits on television and an international phenomenon. So much for your criticisms. The show has one of the biggest fandoms in the world and Cassandra Clare has sold thousands of books because of it so she seems to be going along with the changes.
My advice is stay close minded, stick to your books and stop whining about changes. Nobody listens anymore and nobody cares. Season 2 coming on January 2, 2017 and probably many more after that so suck it up buttercups. Have a nice day!!
I started watching this because my friend told me that it was good (excluding the acting) but I am actually more than disappointed with this series. Maybe its the writing, the producing, or the acting… but what may come off as “small” scenes or “small dialogue exchanges” – these actions have completely changed major plot lines of the actual book and future books, in the series.
Having two portals in the “World of Shadowhunters” was constantly emphasized within the books and would lead to major/future plots – having a minor clip of Magnus creating a portal ruined this all. The only person who was powerful enough to create another portal was Clary. And this is only one thing spoiled within the first few episodes of the show. More examples of this would be revealing Chamille’s character right away, killing “Dot,” mentioning that Magnus is more powerful than the Silent Brothers, mentioning Tessa, and making Maureen old (Her youth was supposed to be essential to another plot line)… Looking back at all of these scenes, none of these make sense and completely morph the series into something else.
They changed TOO much with such a small episode count. They said that they would stay “true to the books” however with these “minor plot lines” within these episodes.. it completely ruins major plot points that are supposed to happen in the future.
They said that they would stay true to the book but this series spiraled out of control, too soon, too fast. Don’t know how they could save face after this or what they will do to make-up for screwing up those major events… but hoping it will work out or they should just cancel it.
I absolutely hate the show! I am watching it and I cringe at the acting, the script, the effects, basically everything! The fandom know what I’m talking about. When you get so into a book and you just want to be apart of their world and you live everyday thinking of the characters, thinking of their feelings, thinking of how much I love them. When they came to life in the show, I looked at them and my love for tmi shattered. I read tid and my heart was rebuilt. I fell in love with the characters all over again. Now in the show they are starting to add in tid into the script. If they do, I might just die. Please don’t give them a season 3!!!! My heart can’t take anymore. Now reading “tales from a shadowhunter academy” I’m not looking at the characters the same way. I only look at the 1888 part then same. Tmi characters are just bleh to me at this point. I’m just heartbroken and I can’t believe what their doing. This is my own opinion!!! Please don’t hate!
Why? Why did they get a season 2B? Why? I’ve read some of the comments from the show. There are some book readers who love the show. How? Why? What! In my opinion if book readers love the show, they don’t really love the books. My heart, my world, my life was slaughtered in the first few seconds of the first episode. What! They start it with Clary at an art school! No! Just No!!!! It starts at the Pandemonium! I mean come on people! Please no hate, just think, what would you do if your entire world was destroyed bc of amateur actors, bad effects, and a horrible storyline?
I HATE THE SHOW!!
First of all, there are people out there hating on the fandom. I like how the fandom acts. They stand up for what they believe in. They want to be heard. I want to be heard.
Reading is such an important skill and though it may not always be fun, these books made it fun. I didn’t want to put those books down. I felt apart of their world. When I saw how the screen slowly ripped those pages out of the books and shredded them into pieces, it physically hurt.
Why do they always have to ruin literature? Why does the world have to become all electronics? We need to stand up and tell people to pick up and read the book. TV ruins things like this. They just need to create new things. Stop ruining our books and our imagination!!
What I hate is how people who are apparently obsessed with the books are now hooked on the show, but its almost trashy in comparison. On top of that if you even want to voice any kind of an opinion the tv show side of the fandom acts like its irrelevant and completely hate on people. Honestly though the movie was way better compare to this. I feel like the only people who should like the show are the people who haven’t read the books. I just cant with the show I want to support the actors but they suck like badly like why would you actively watch them. On top of that everything is just horribly over exaggerated. I dont even care if they cancel the show. I just wish people would realize how bad it is.
I love both the books and the show. It started off cringey and cheesy, which is why it took me several tries to watch the show. But then I learned each episode has a new director, each with a unique take on the story. The editing, acting, and effects only got better with each episode. Although it started off on the wrong foot, Casserole Clare has no right to piss on the show as much as she does. She got a bunch of writers fired after season one, then the show got popular, then she started acting like it was because of her! I still enjoy her books, but I’m not going to support them anymore. I hope shadowhunters gets as many seasons as it needs to tell its own story.
I absolutely HATED the show. I love the book series, and I think I’ve read all six books over like ten times. When I found out there was a T.V show, I was really excited, and I wanted to see what the directors would do with the amazing content Cassandra Clare created. But I was beyond disappointed. All the acting was pretty mediocre, which was a shame because the author did a really good job of developing the characters in the books. And on top of the poor casting, the directors took some wrong turns on character development. I thought that a lot of the characters, especially Clary, came off and way over-sexualized. I know there were some steamy parts in the book, but the way Clary was portrayed was so different from the book, and not in a good way. In the books, she was awkward, funny, and acted like a normal teenager. But in the show, she wears all these skimpy outfits that don’t fit the personality of the character. Now, I don’t have a problem with females embracing their sexuality, but the way the show did Clary, I wasn’t able to relate to her in any way, which was one of the main reasons I loved her character so much. And just in general, the effects looked ridiculous and in no way did justice to the beautiful scenes Clare created in the series. And, they added a ton of stuff that was not in the book, and changed things around so much that it just made the whole thing not enjoyable for me. If you’re a die-hard fan of any of Cassandra Clare’s books, I suggest you shy away from this T.V show. In the end, it’s a huge let down.
I also really REALLY liked the books, I was devastated when the movies came out. The filming was bad, pretty much everything was horrible. I was shocked when I saw how different the actors looked from what was described in the books, I wished ABC Family didn’t get the rights. They totally ruined it.